Category Archives: The People of the Sunnah in Iran

Shaikh al-Hadith Nematullah Tawhidi was a charismatic Iranian Sunni scholar from the Sistan and Baluchestan Province in south-east Iran. A teacher of one of the Sunni institutes in Zahedan city. He was known for his sharp mind and tongue and for his bravery as he openly defended Sunni beliefs without any comprise despite all the pressure from the Iranian regime and the Shia clergy. He also openly refuted Shia allegations (in defence of Sahaba, the mother of the believers ‘Aisha etc.) against Ahl al-Sunnah and warned against the veneration of saints and graves that are so common in Iran and were actively propagated by the regime and the Mullahs of Qom in Sunni regions of Iran. He surely lived up to his name, a man of monotheism, who lived by it and died upon it.

He, along with a group of other outspoken Iranian Sunni scholars died in a suspicious bus crash in year 1427H / 2006. His family members and witnesses suspect the Iranian regime (it got rid of many critics, especially Sunni scholars, in such staged ‘accidents’). He was only 38 years young.

Whether or not an ethnic Persian exists in the world is a topic where one will hear many opinions and arguments. Some (often Iranian nationalists) argue that the Persian-speakers of Iran are not an ethnic group but rather a lingual group (like most Arab speakers in the Arab world who although are culturally and linguistically Arab, yet very few can claim to be of pure Arab origin, although undoubtly many do have Arab ancestry).

Abū Ḥamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrāhīm aka Attar Al-Nishaburi* (Nishabur lies in current day Iran, in the Khorasan province where ethnic Persian Khorassani Sunnis still represent a large minority, even in Mashad city) on one of the accusations of the Shia against the two noble Shaykhs (Abu Bakr and Omar):

The Abdullah ibn Mas’ud Hifdh Al-Qur’an school in Iran, Parsian county (formely known as Gavbandieh) of Hormozgan, south Iran. Wheverer you find Ahlus-Sunnah, you’ll find Ahl Al-Qur’an.

Parsian county is one of the many remaining ethnic Persian Sunni (Shafi’fi) pockets in the south of Iran which also has a minority Iranian Arab (Sunni Shafi’i) population, living in harmony (with intermarriages being very common among southern Persian Sunnis and Arabs).

If there are any Iranian Sunni people more unknown (even to Iranians) than the Persian Sunni-Shafi’is (Lari/Khodmooni) of south Iran, then it is the Persian Sunni-Hanafi people of the Iranian Khorasan province. Perhaps, this is due to the widely-held (erroneous) belief that Iranian Sunnis are from ethnic groups other than the Persian one.

Shaikh Mohsen Mo’tamad passed away today (16/02/2018) on Jumu’ah. He was one of the most famous Da’wah carriers (who also studied Mathematical Physics) in the south of Iran (Hormozgan) and amir (head) of the Tablighi Jama’at in the Hormozgan province (yes, they do operate in Iran, only in predominantly Sunni regions and even there they are often faced with harassment by the regime).

May Allah have mercy upon him and forgive his sins and make Jannah Al-Firdaws Al-A’laa his eternal home.

Ramadhan 1438 / 2017 in Birjand city (southern Khorasan province of Iran) which has a large Sunni population of ethnic Persian Sunnis (Hanafi). The Shalwar Qamis is their traditional clothing just as it is the traditional clothing of Persian/Tajik Sunnis of Afghanistan. Shias in Iran are one of the few nations in the Islamic world that are devoid of any traditional Islamic clothing (the Shia clergy is wears clerical clothing which is for them only, like in a Hindu caste system or the Church where priests only wear specific attire).

They are the TRUE Sons (and Daughters) of the Sunnis of Iran. They are Balochis, an ancient Iranic people, Sunnis to the bones, notorious all over Iran for their good character, bravery and religiosity. They are also from among – if not the most – deprived children and people of Iran, being guilty of two crimes, first benign Sunni and second being of non ethnic Persians ethnicity, but by Allah who raised the seven heavens, the rotten Rafidi Safavi clergy of Qom with their wasteful shrines and golden domes envy nothing more but these kids. These proud people who despite all the injustice that they’ve faced have never lost their faith and have never been broken by the authorities (despite decades of Shia missionary work in Irwnian Sunni areas) so much that Iranian Shias themselves admit that the average Iranian Sunni is a thousand time more religious and attached to Islam than the Iranian Shiites who despite all the efforts of the Safavi regime is known around the world as the most irreligious and often even straight apostate Islam

The Samanid dynasty (Persian: سامانیان, Sāmāniyān), also known as the Samanid Empire (819–999). It was the first native Persian empire after Arabs ruled Persia for around 300 years. This first ever Persian empire after the Muslim conquest by Caliph ‘Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) was not just Muslim but Sunni to the core. The Samanids ruled in Khorassan and Transoxiana. During the era of the Abbasids they ruled as Amirs of Khorasan, appointed by the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad. The Samanids were of Persian dehqan origin with roots stemming from Balkh (to this day a majority Persian-Tajik area in Afghanistan) in present-day northern Afghanistan.They claimed descent from the House of Mihran, high nobility of the Sassanian and Parthian (ancient Khorassan) empires conquered by the Muslims.

Maryam Amirebrahimi knows the Quran by heart. Basically she’s a real Ayatullah (sign/miracle of Allah), not one of those Living corpses in Qom and Najaf who can’teven recite a single verse of the Fatihah with correct Tajwid and Makharij. She received her master’s in Education from UCLA, where her research focused on the effects of mentorship rooted in CriticalRace Theory for urban high school students of color. She holds a bachelor’s in Child and Adolescent Development from San Jose State University, where she served as the President of the Muslim Student Association for two consecutive years. Currently, she is pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in Islamic Studies through Al Azhar University. Maryam spent a year studying the Arabic language and Qur’an in Cairo, Egypt, and has memorized the Qur’an. She has been presented the Student of the Year award and holds a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Maryam frequently travels to work with different communities on topics related to spiritual connections, social issues and women’s studies

Happy ‘Id to all Muslims in particular our loyal supporters of our blog and Facebook page.

Picture is from the Sunni city of Taybad – stronghold of ethnic Persian Sunnis – in the khorassan province of Iran. The Persian lands of khorassan in particular the part which lies in current day Iran, cities such as Nishabur used to be the fortresses of Islam. Beacons of knowledge emerged from these lands. Persian khorassan in its Sunni era used to surpass Baghdad and all other major Muslim cities when it came to scholarship and Islamic and scientific learning institutes. Numerous scholars of the Salaf and Khalaf, Al-Hakim Al-Nishaburi, Imam Al-Ghazali and many more. Post-Safavid Iran produced the likes of Ayatullat Vahid Khorassani who can’t even recite the first verse of the Fatiha with correct Tajweed. Nevertheless, Sunnis are still presence in the khorassan province of Iran, even Mashhad city has a sunnibpopulation of 10-15%, and some towns south of Mashhad are even completely Sunni. The Majority of Sunnis of khorassan are ethnic Persian khorassanis and hanafis with a minority of Iranian Baloch and mainly Tajik (Persian) Sunnis from Afghanistan. To this day greater khorassan (which includes Afghanistan, Uzbekistans etc.) is inhabited by mostly Persian Speaking Sunnis.

‘Eid Al-Fitr Khutba 1436/2015 in the city of Azashahr (Golestan province) in northern Khorassan part of Iran Northern and southern Khorassan province of Iran – despite the famous Imam Al-Ridha shrine in Mashad – have still a large Sunni minority. Even many towns outside Mashad are still majority Sunni. Khorassani Sunnis are of Baloch, Turkmen and even Persian (khorassani) descent. In fact Persian Khorassanis are amongst the few ethnic Persian Sunni minorities left in Iran (most Persian Sunnis were massacred by the Safavids) along with the southern Iranians (Larestanis/Khodmoonis) who are also of Persian descent (unlike Baloch and Turkmen. It is also noteworthy to mention that many of the greatest scholars of the Ahl Al-Sunnah emerged from the lands of Golestan (in particular Gorgij, hence many scholars carry the title Al-Gorgiji/Al-Jorjiji).

In previous posts and articles we have shown that not all Sunni Iranians are of non-Persian (like Baloch, Kurdish etc.) ethnic backround. In fact vast landscapes of Iran are still inhabited by ethnic Persians, including unsuspected areas such as the outskirts of Mashad and and in general many towns in the Khorassan province of Iran (where Khorrassani Persian Sunnis represent a significant minority) and of course the southern provinces of Iran such as the Fars province (most towns south of Shiraz in the Fars province are majority Persian and Sunni) and the Bushehr (Abu Shahr) and Hormozgan province. The people in the southern part of the Fars province speak an ancient Persian dialect called Achomi.

Khāqāni (1121 – 1190, Tabriz), was a Persian poet during the pre-Safavid era (where the majority of Persians in what is known today as Iran were staunch Sunnis).

He was born in the historical region known as Shirvan (located now in present country of Azerbaijan), under the Shirvanshah (a vassal of the Seljuq empire) and died in Tabriz (Tabriz used to be a majority Persian city of staunch Sunnis, today it’s majority Azeri and Rafidi), Iran.Ironically many Iranians (including nationalist) love to attribute him to themselves, not realising that
1. He was a proud and believing Muslim
2. He was a Sunni, a orthodox Muslim who despised the Rafidah with a passion

The older Persian province of Khorasan included parts which are today in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Some of the main historical cities of Persia are located in the older Khorasan: Nishapur and Tus (now in Iran), Merv and Sanjan (now in Turkmenistan), Samarkand and Bukhara (both now in Uzbekistan), Herat and Balkh (now in Afghanistan), Khujand and Panjakent (now in Tajikistan). In its long history, Khorasan knew many conquerors and empires: Greeks, Mauryans, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, Safavids, Baloch, Pashtuns and others.

The great Kurds (sons of Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi Al-Kurdi) are the nomads (Badus/Bedouins) of Persia +++

Kurds (Shafi’is) make up the majority Sunni population of Iran (followed by Balochi Hanafis, Turkmen Hanafis and Persian Lari Shafi’is of southern Iran and Khorasani Persian Hanafis), there are over 10 million Kurds in Iran, the absolute majority are Sunnis (some are Shia, especially in Kermanshah and in Khorasan were some Kurds were deported by the Safavids and forced into Shiism)

For obvious reasons( such as geographical ones) the close ties between Somalia and Yemen are a well covered historical fact. Adding to that that most Yemenis just like their Somali brothers on the horn belong to the same religion and even school of thought (Shafi’is) and sometimes even to the same tribes and clans, hence it is no wonder that the relationship between these two lands are not a secret to anyone who knows a bit about these two countries. However, next to the (mainly Yemeni) Arabs the Somalis encouratered another people, non-Arabs, the Persians. From the times of pre-Islamic Persia till pthe re-Safavid (Most Persians and other Iranian tribes were forced into Twelver Shi’ism by the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century AD) Sunni-Shafi’i one, Persians always had close ties to Somalia, they traded there, spread the religion there (Shafi’i school and sometimes even settled there (at the coastal cities).

Out dated Iranian gov. sources (and CIA sources) give a roughly estimate of 1-2 million (2-3% of the entire population). Some extremist Arab groups (particularly Ahwazis) represent the other side of the extreme, claiming there are 10 million Arabs in Iran. The truth seems to be somewhere in the middle (or close to it), for according to some independant sources there is an estimate of 3-5 million Arabs living inside Iran.

– He Studied Shari’ah in the Madinah University
– He acquired his PhD degree in Sudan
– Compiled many books in the field of Fiqh and Usool Al-Fiqh
– Known as the ‘Shaykh Al-Shafi’iyyah’ (Shaykh of the Shafi’is) in Iran
– He is of course fluent in Arabic (not like the absolute majority of Shia ‘Ayatullats’ who can’t even recite a Fatiha correctly)
– He is known for his orthodox Sunni-Shafi’i Aqidah and was more than once prevented by the Iranian regime to participate at major Sunni gatherings in Iran (what the regime also often does is to confisnicate the passports of Sunni scholars in order to prevent them to do Hajj or ‘Umra and to connect with the wider Sunni world in public)
– He runs many Shafi’i schools inside Iran (all under heavy pressure)

Ethnic Persian (yes, Persians, not Baloch or Kurds or other Iranic people) Sunnis of Iran:

1. Khorassani Persians – The Iranian province of Khorassan in east Iran is home to Khorassani-Persian Sunnis. Even Mashad (which is just next to Neishabur, where Imam Muslim is buried) has a Sunni minority. Some cities in Khorassan of Iran are even majority Sunni (like Birjand and Torbat-e Jam). Khorassani Persians are Hanafi Sunnis and culturally (and of course by language) no different to their fellow Persians in Isfahani, Tehrani, Shirazi etc.

THE PROPHET’S PRAISE OF THE PEOPLE OF PERSIA AND THE SHIA DESPERATION OF ATTRIBUTING THE HADITH TO THEMSELVES!

A 50,000 Rial note from Iran. The neo-Safawis have shamelessly printed this PRO-PERSIAN SUNNI hadith on their bank notes. A Sunni Iranian has written on it challenging the Shias to provide this famous hadith AUTHENTICALLY from their own books.

Shaikh Mohammad Saleh Pordel is an ethnic southern Persian from the Hormozgan province. He (like the majority of the NATIVE Persians in the south) is Sunni adhering to the Shafi’i school of thought. He’s the student of the late great Shaikh Mohammad Saleh Ziyaie (one of the first Iranian students of the Madinah University), may Allah have mercy upon him. Shaikh Pordel is well known and very beloved in the Iranian Sunni community, he is even known in Afghanistan and Tajikistan (where he appeared on state TV, yet the national TV of Iran never reported about him, let alone having him have a single appearence or show on national TV).

So far – and Allah praise is due to Allah – he managed to avoid any trouble with the Iranian Shia authorities, one reason might be that he is an extremely influencial and beloved figure in the southern Persian Sunni community, also he is not politically active at all, and he does not travel to Shia areas, so that might be one of the reasons while the Iranian regime haven’t imprisoned him or assassinated (like in the case of his Shaikh Ziayie who was found mutiliated in the deserts!).

May Allah preserve Shaikh Mohammad Saleh Pordel and all the Muslims and Ahl Al-Sunnah in Iran and around the world.

There really needs to be a comprehensive book or article written about the migration of Persians to al-Andalus in the early medieval period and their impact on the cultural and intellectual developments there. It is a little-known fact that there were several waves of migration (primarily of scholars) from the central Islamic lands to the Iberian peninsula between 800 and 1100. The evidence for such a phenomenon definitely exists and we can even trace the origins of a few key personalities, such as Ziryab (d. 857) and Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), back to the Iranian plateau. For the latter, the great fourteenth-century historian al-Dhahabi notes: